Libya rivals dig in for protracted ‘airports war’

By Walid Abdullah

ISTANBUL (AA) - As fresh conflict erupts around Libyan capital Tripoli, the warring parties have targeted a number of airports -- both military and civilian -- in an effort to get the upper hand.

Last week, forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar, who is affiliated with a rival government based in the country’s east, launched a campaign to capture Tripoli, where Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) is headquartered.

By Monday, however, the campaign appeared to have lost momentum, with pro-GNA forces recapturing two military bases near the capital after they were briefly seized by Haftar’s forces.

The two sides have also traded blows over three strategic airports near Tripoli, prompting observers to describe the conflict as Libya’s “airports war”.

Haftar’s campaign has met with considerable international criticism, especially given its timing: only one week before a UN-sponsored “national dialogue” conference slated for April 14 in the southwestern town of Ghadames.

The conference is being held with the ostensible aim of hammering out a political “roadmap” for the troubled North African country’s future.

Nasser al-Hawari, director of the Libyan Observatory for Human Rights, an NGO, said the ongoing “airports war” had revealed that “both sides will do anything to win the fight”.

“These airports and airbases are vulnerable points that both sides will try to exploit until one of them decisively wins the conflict or the international community steps in to end it,” he told Anadolu Agency.

Al-Hawari ruled out a speedy end to the conflict, “since both sides possess arsenals sufficient to prolong it”.

“The fighting will end if foreign support for the warring parties is halted,” he said, going on to assert: “Some foreign parties are providing [the warring camps] with logistic and diplomatic support”.

Libya has a total of 18 civilian airports, nine of which offer international flights, while the remaining nine are used only for domestic flights.

After clashes erupted at Tripoli’s international airport in mid-2014, most foreign airlines suspended flights to the country.

On Tuesday, a warplane affiliated with Haftar’s forces targeted the international airport, which had been under the control of pro-GNA forces.

One day earlier, Haftar’s air force targeted Tripoli’s Mitiga international airport in an attack denounced by the GNA as a “war crime”.

The airport, which was being used by the GNA for military purposes, was evacuated in the immediate wake of the attack while all air traffic was temporarily suspended.

And on Sunday, the GNA’s air force attacked the Al-Watiyah airbase, located some 130 kilometers southwest of Tripoli.

Notably, Al-Watiyah represents Haftar’s only airbase in the western half of the country.

Kamel Abdullah, an Egyptian analyst specialized in Libyan affairs, described the ongoing conflict as “bone-breaking”.

“Haftar will not give up easily,” he told Anadolu Agency.

“Now he wants either a safe exit -- under the cover of international pressure -- or out and out victory with the support of foreign parties,” Abdullah said.

“But a lengthy war will not be in Haftar’s favor,” he added.

Abdullah went on to cite Haftar’s “long, vulnerable supply lines” and Tripoli’s “dense population” as factors working to Haftar’s disadvantage.

“The GNA, meanwhile, enjoys a degree of legitimacy and international recognition,” he said.

Turkey, the U.S., the U.K. and Italy, along with several international organizations, have all denounced Haftar’s campaign, while Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have all voiced concern over the escalations.

“Regional players all seek to consolidate their interests [in Libya],” Abdullah said, “and will make their decisions accordingly”.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat